1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active hood device for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an active hood device for a vehicle, in which at the time of a vehicle-pedestrian collision accident, a hood actuator is operated by a signal from a detecting sensor installed at a front portion of the vehicle so as to raise a rod, the rod is raised upward and rearward by an operating unit and allows a hood panel to pop up upward and rearward, and a striker, which is installed at a front end of the hood panel, includes an upper catching portion and a lower catching portion.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a hood panel is mounted at an upper side of an engine room disposed in the front of the vehicle, and serves to shut off engine noise from the engine room and protect the engine room.
In order to perform maintenance or general routine inspection of various types of components installed in the engine room, a striker, which has one side that is connected with a vehicle body by means of a hood hinge, and the other side that is formed to be caught by a hood latch, is mounted to the hood panel, thereby selectively opening the hood panel.
Typically, the hood latch is a locking and unlocking means for opening and closing the hood panel, and configured as a secondary locking structure that prevents the hood panel from being opened and safely maintains a closed state when the hood panel needs to be in closed state at normal times or when the vehicle travels.
The hood latch is positioned at a lower portion of a front tip of the hood panel and installed at the vehicle body side, and serves to lock or unlock the striker mounted to the hood panel using a hook or the like.
Meanwhile, due to recently enforced pedestrian protection regulations, instances in which a structure is adopted for reducing injuries to pedestrians at the front side of the vehicle based on a front bumper and a hood of the vehicle body have increased, and this structure serves as an important factor that dictates marketability of the vehicle.
The pedestrian protection law, which is enforced in Europe and the like, includes contents regarding a method of evaluating performance of the vehicle by allowing a leg form, an upper leg form, and a head form, which represent a pedestrian, to collide with the front portion of the vehicle in a stopped state.
In general, when a vehicle collides with a pedestrian, the pedestrian is catapulted away from the vehicle onto the road in a direction in which the vehicle travels, which may lead to a collateral accident, such that the pedestrian is hit again by the assault vehicle, thereby increasing a probability of death of the pedestrian.
The main purpose of the pedestrian protection regulations is to reduce a probability of death of the pedestrian which is caused by distinctive characteristics of the pedestrian accident.
In order to reduce impact applied to the pedestrian's body and absorb inertial energy of the body at the time of a collision between the hood panel of the vehicle and the pedestrian, a shock absorbing space is required between the hood panel and the engine.
However, the hood panels of most of vehicles are designed to be as low as possible in order to ensure frontal visibility for a driver, and due to this configuration, an interval between the engine and the hood panel just provides a minimum space for avoiding interference.
Therefore, there has been used an active hood device for a vehicle, which adopts a method of expanding a shape of the hood panel, or a method of allowing the hood panel to instantaneously pop up when a sensor senses impact, in order to ensure an additional shock absorbing space.
FIG. 1 is an exemplified view schematically illustrating an appearance of an active hood device for a vehicle in the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an active hood device for a vehicle in the related art has a structure in which when impact on a bumper is sensed by utilizing a detecting sensor installed at a front portion of the vehicle, a hinge actuator 3 coupled to a hood hinge 2 is operated to allow a hood hinge (that is, a rear portion of the hood panel 1) to pop up, and at the same time, a latch actuator 5 coupled to a hood latch 4 is operated to allow a hood latch (that is, a front portion of the hood panel 1) to pop up.
That is, since both the front portion and the rear portion of the hood panel 1 pop up, a shock absorbing space is ensured between the hood panel 1 and the engine (not illustrated), thereby reducing impact applied to the pedestrian's body.
However, according to the active hood device for a vehicle in the related art, the hinge actuator and the latch actuator need to be additionally installed to allow the hood panel to pop up, and as a result, there are problems in that costs for producing the vehicle are increased, and a weight of the vehicle is increased.
In addition, according to the active hood device for a vehicle in the related art, the structure of the active hood device is complicated, and as a result, there are drawbacks in that the number of working processes is large, time required to assemble the active hood device is increased, and it is disadvantageous in terms of a package layout of the vehicle because the active hood device occupies a large space.
In order to solve the disadvantages in terms of cost reduction, a structure in which the latch actuator is omitted, and a single hinge actuator allows the hood panel to pop up has been developed, but in the case of this structure, a rear end portion of the hood panel is raised, and the hood panel is rotated based on fixing points of a striker and the hood latch, and as a result, there is a problem in that a front end portion of the hood panel is lowered even more.
That is, when the hood panel pops up, the front end portion of the hood panel is lowered while being rotated, and becomes close to the engine, and as a result, there are problems in that a shock absorbing space becomes small, and pedestrian protection performance deteriorates.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.